Some of my friends gave us a gift to congratulate us on our new baby! It plays music! Watch the video below to hear the song. It actually plays much longer but I just gave it a little tug to make the video. This is a traditional Japanese song for 6th grade elementary school kids [...]

bubbles Expat bubbles. Or in Japan you might call them gaijin bubbles. What are they? Why are they? Are they all bad? How can you avoid them? Here’s my two cents as someone who has lived in multiple countries, inside and outside of the bubbles. Living in an Expat Bubble You’re living in an “expat [...]

One of my old friends personally knows people who lost everything in Miyagi, so she was prompted to start up this Love for Miyagi Japan fundraising project to try and help them out. This is a small project that is hoping to help out a small number of people, but with your help it could [...]

Lot’s of people who study Japanese hope to get into translation some day. And when it comes to translation, many people hope to do manga or game translation, why? Cause the content is freaking fun! But how to break into the field? A friend recently introduced me to Digital Manga Guild, and it seems to [...]

We have another interview for you! This time with my good friend, Yuka the Japanese teacher! Sensei in her graduation kimono Why did you decide to come to the U.S. to teach Japanese? I received a scholarship to study TESOL (Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages) while teaching the Japanese language at Boston University. [...]

Sam the Newbie attended the 2010 Boston Career Forum to find a job in Japan. He put together this writeup of his experience, so I’m posting it here so that everyone can benefit! Feel free to post any questions that you may have in the comments and Sam will come back to answer them! From [...]

The next podcast recommendation is Nikkei Veritas Moyamoya Talk by TV Tokyo Announcer Oe Mariko. Moyamoya Talk with Oe Mariko とーく！！！ Just a quick Japanese print culture lesson. Seeing とーく, with it’s と and く in Hiragana placed around a katakana vowel extender ー thing may seem a little weird. Basically, this is トーク which [...]

Profile! I'll never be featured on this Podcast… This podcast is called 上田の仕事人名鑑 プロファイル! Basically, the host will go out somewhere in Japan to find hardcore Japanese people working. I don’t mean soft cushy desk jobs, I mean 70 year old men who jump into chest-deep waters with a basket rake tied around their waist and [...]